Welcome, Parker Cromwell Coghlan
A boy. Another boy. I still can hardly believe it.
I love my houseful of girls, and I freely admit that I never really longed for a boy until I was already pregnant with our first son. I can't help but believe that was God's hand on my heart. Before then, I just wished for a son in a theoretical way so that my husband would have a namesake. I didn't know the gender of our first son until he arrived, but with that pregnancy, I found myself filled with a sudden and unfamiliar longing for a son. God answered that longing with our first son.
Since then, I have hoped for another boy, but for a different reason. As always, I think baby girls are sweet and delightful, and will joyfully welcome any and all that come my way. I was utterly content with my one son. I was thankful that my girls had a brother and my husband had a son and namesake. But one of us was still left out: the boy didn't have a brother. All of his sisters had a brother, but he didn't.
He loves his little sister dearly. He takes care of her, protects her, and occasionally gets her into trouble. But he confided in me a few months ago: "Mom, I think you should have a boy baby. I really love Bethany, but sometimes I accidentally hurt her when we're playing."
Now he has a brother that he will someday be allowed to punch (i.e. rough-house with), and he can't wait.
That's why we needed another boy around here. Not because I was too greedy to be satisfied with one son, but because my one son needed a brother. I wanted him to know the joy and laughter and insanity that a boy - a brother - has brought to us.
Thank you, Lord, for this son.
Related posts:
- Birth story: Parker Cromwell (part 2)
- Birth story: Parker Cromwell (part 1)
- Boys vs. girls
- The Coghlan Day Of Thanksgiving
- He’s not a baby
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Filed under: Boys
That is so sweet! My son loves each of his three little sisters, but I know he hopes for a brother some day. We asked him after the second was born if he was sad she wasn’t a boy and he said “No, because a boy wouldn’t be as sweet as Anna.”
AWWHH what a lovely post
So sweet! Congrats. : )
Ariana has been desperate for a sister for the same type of reasons, but none so far.
Oh and youre previous comment about Parker’s name working well when screamed with Perry’s? You are totally right on. lol We chose names for their “scream effectiveness” as well. Boys, gotta love em!
Congratulations! I’m so thankful that Perry now has a brother. Watching our two youngest (both boys at the moment) tumble and play has been such a sweet blessing. They play army and war, horses and dogs, make the most delightful messes and get into the most wonderful trouble.
We rejoice with you in this good gift from God and praise Him for giving you more than you need and for blessing Perry with an amazingly wonderful gift.
So now you have The Boy and The Other Boy. How fun. I am rejoicing with you!
Of course, once they start getting into trouble together, maybe they will be Thing 1 and Thing 2! LOL.
Rejoicing in the Lord’s goodness with you
Wonderful name!!! And adorable little boy.
My ONLY son will be 8 at the end of the month.
When my mom asked him what he’d like for his birthday, he said, “A brother.”
He loves his five sisters but….it’s just not the same and I understand what you say about Perry needing a lil bro.
*I* don’t long for another boy (though I’d be thrilled to pieces to get one) but I do pray for one for my son.
Love the name! Enjoy your baby.
So happy for the whole family. Number 7 was our first boy, then number 8 was a little boy but he went to be with the Lord before we could even hold him. My heart longs for another little boy so Levi can have a brother. The girls have each other and I feel like our little guy needs another one to play with. Congrats.
Congratulations on your son! Brothers are such a blessing and so, so special to see together!
Congrats! Now you need only call out, “PC!” or “PCC!” for effectiveness, and all 3….ur….I mean 2, will come a runnin’! ; ) Good thing you’re not a Mac clan ; )
Welcome, Parker Cromwell Coghlan! Great name! Great pattern ; )
The Seargeant Family
I love the name-very classy sounding. Congrats again and I’m thrilled for Perry Boy as well.
Wonderful name! So manly and strong.
When our youngest was born, I was not-so-secretly hoping for another girl (’cause I never know if it’ll be my last baby!) – because we had 3 sons and 2 daughters. And, I wanted every child to be able to refer to their “brothers and sisters”. Goofy, I know. But, the Lord did bless us with another daughter!
So happy for your dear family.
Sheila, MI mama to 3 and 3…
(and two with Jesus)
I also know how you feel. Until the last baby was born our family was girl, boy, girl, girl, girl. The boy wanted a brother. Now we have girl, boy, girl, girl, girl, boy. The 2 boys are 10 years apart, but they are “battle buddies” (military family) who love to play together.
Your new boy is adorable.
Amy
Great name!
I have two boys – one is 21 the other almost 5. I long for another son, so my little guy would have a brother close to his age. He loves his big sisters (four of them) and his big brother (adores him) but he would be a great big brother to a little brother! God knows.
So happy for your family!
Kim, you have such a wonderful way with words
although I think all the pictures of the new baby are sweet as can be, to me the one with The Boy holding him is just priceless. BTW… so glad you posted his name… I was gonna try to add you as a friend on facebook so that I could sneak around and find the “leak”… but I knew you’d see through my scheme 
I know exactly what you mean about him needing a brother. I’m more of the ‘quiverfull’ persuasion than my husband shall we say… and the only reason he decided to try for a 3rd (and hopefully 4th someday) was to try for a sister for our daughter and a brother for our son. He said if we don’t get a perfect 2 of each though, he still doesn’t want any more. He said he hopes each of our first 2 will get a same-gender sibling because he grew up with only brothers and can’t imagine not having had brothers. I can’t complain because God has brought us both a long way. 4 1/2 years ago we had both decided not to have any children.
I’m so thankful that God had other plans!
I’m so happy for you guys! I really hope my son will have a brother someday. And I hope I have at least two girls — so all my kids can have at least one brother and one sister
Kim,
Congratulations!
Now – no more posts until you are WELL rested. You just feed that precious boy and REST! And, when you are about to go crazy from cabin fever you can post again. I praise the Lord that you endured the pain or posterior birth. I praise the Lord that your husband is the kind of man who can catch a baby in lieu of a midwife. And, I praise God that Parker is healthy!
And, no one will think any less of you if you turn on the AC for the sake of your nursing mom hormones and your new baby!
With love,
Bethany W in mid-MO
Yes, “Welcome, Parker Cromwell Coghlan! Happy Birthday to You!”
I had chills reading this, so happy for you all! I LOVE that picture of your dad with Parker (below). That is such a beautiful, frame worthy pic!!
What a blessing, Kim! Brothers are the best! I have a house full of boys and we are pregnant, again. We don’t know if it’s a boy or a girl but sometimes my mind can’t even process the thought of having a girl. Ha! Congratulations to you all! And the name is perfect! Good job!
Happy Birthday Parker!
Congratulations to the whole family!
Tears came to my eyes while reading this post. It is beautiful and I thank you for sharing so much with us.
With love,
Elizabeth
Yay! I was the same way with having a 2nd girl. We have a girl(now 12), boys, 9, 7,5,almost 3, and baby girl 8 months. I REALLY wanted her to know that sister relationship and I am so thankful to the Lord for another daughter : )
I believe the Lord blessed us once we gave everything to him and gave us “The desires of our heart” right after we decided to homeschool our children.
MAY THE LORD BLESS YOU and cannot wait to see pics of those boys in action : )
What a cutie! Congratulations.
Love the name!
I can totally understand that feeling Kim! Boys need brothers and girls need sisters and they all need each other. Of course we take what God gives us and thank Him for His sovereignty but it just seems to balance our kids out so much to have a least one of each
I was rejoicing with your little Perry (and all of you) when I heard he was a little man! And quite surprised as I am sure you were since the odds are quite against you! Many blessings as you enjoy this new (noisy) adventure of having two boys in the house! God is so good!
Rejoicing with ya’ll! Thanks be to God for Parker Cromwell and for his dear parents!
Love
a proud grandpa and father
CONGRATS!!!!
Such a sweet name.
Very dignified sounding name. It does go with Perry. Now if you would just hurry up and rest up and write that birth story…
just kidding…we’ve waited and waited for you to have this baby, we can wait and wait for the story, too.
Awww, that is so sweet, Kim! I felt the same way when my second son was born. May God bless Parker as he grows and you as you recover from birth.
Congratulations on the baby boy!!
I know about longing for a son… my son needs a brother too. When our newest baby girl was born, 4 months ago, after he greeted her and smiled, my son turned to me and said “will you bring a baby boy home next time?”
he needs a brother.
Awww, great name. Parker is my nieces’ name.
Is the Cromwell after a particular Cromwell in history, or the play?
Um…that’s niece’s…singular possessive. I only have one niece named Parker!
So happy for you and your family!! Congratulations!!!
Congratulations! (I was away from computer for a few days & missed the whole thing but I’ve enjoyed reading it tonight!) He is adorable- just love all that dark hair!
WOW- hubby caught him? We’ve had 6 homebirths but our midwives always made it in time. (Though I was already pushing with one.)
God Bless!
I want to say thank you Kim for your blog. My husband and I have no children *(by choice) and it is such a blessing to read your blog. I look forward to the daily adventures of your family and live vicariously through you all. Bless you and congratulations on your son.
So sweet! I am glad you got another boy.
When he was quite young, our one boy realized one day that all of his sisters had a brother, but he did not. He was quite annoyed about that. God never did give us another brother for him, but at 11 years of age he has a little nephew he adores, two brothers-in-law who are AMAZING and do incredible Big Brother things with and for him (digging forts, building tree-houses, fishing, designing rocket launches, fireworks), and there are the two little boys who have been staying with us off an on for the last year. One way or another, God provides what we need.=)
Praise The Lord for a healthy new Coghlan baby!! Congratulations… we are so happy for you all! Parker is beautiful (and we love his name).
lots of love, the Long family
PS Even though most of us are away from home, we’ve been stalking your blog regularly for new baby posts!
Kathryn,
Cromwell is after Oliver Cromwell, whom hubby re-enacted last year at a big history conference in Boston.
Brothers need brothers! Congratulations to both you and your son.
Love the name! Congratulations to all of you on your new addition!
I never got a chance to say congrats…so “CONGRATS!”
I absolutely LOVE the name. And Perry and Parker go really well together too.
I don’t usually comment, I mean, come on, you have plenty of comments to read and not enough time to read them.
anyway, I know EXACTLY what you mean. I was even a tiny bit disappointed when our latest was a girl. BOO, no brother for our son. I hope we get to try again and have a boy.
Congrats and blessings!! He’s beautiful.
CONGRATULATIONS, Kim and Perry!
We have 8 girls and 3 boys. Our boys are #8, #9 and #11. I thought it was so incredibly cool to have so many girls in a row, so I never really *wanted* a boy until the day after I had my first boy.
That day, for the first time, I really, REALLY wanted another boy! I remember praying, “LORD, I really never want to go through labor ever again, but please, if it’s your will, please send Erik a little brother.”
Erik’s little brother was born 14 months and 1 day later.
I’m so, SO happy for all of you. If the LORD ever sends us another child (our youngest is 3 1/2), I will try to follow your example with all that wonderful walking.
Valerie
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